Kino

Four friends, some wax, and pot muffins.

Interviews with director Elem Klimov made for the Kino DVD release.

More than 50 years ago, the Tibetan Bon Buddhist tradition was driven from its refuge deep within the Himalayas. This is the story of the long and difficult journey that followed. Told through the lens of one Bon teacher born in exile -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche -- this film reveals something very precious and very old: a rich spiritual heritage, hidden for millennia, whose secret teachings are only now becoming known to the world. There may be no unbroken spiritual tradition more ancient than Bon, which traces its beginnings to a buddha who predates Shakyamuni by thousands of years. Yet this tradition today may be facing its greatest challenge thus far: to preserve its rich heritage beyond the land of its birth.

Why does the European Union allow deadly pesticides banned at home to be exported to developing countries? Brazil, especially, uses large quantities of harmful pesticides imported from Europe with terrible effects on the population’s health.

On her first business trip away after the birth of her child, a young mother has to fend off the unwanted advances of her boss, triggering a traumatic childhood event involving a monstrous figure called Mama.

Faced with rising threats from Russia, North Korea and most of all China, Japan is re-arming at an incredible rate. This documentary sheds light on the geopolitical upheavals in the Pacific region and on Japan’s history of pacifism since the second world war.